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Friday Night Highlights for the Stay-Home Set

I guess Brad DeLong's Friday night was pretty dull, but it's all to our benefit this morning. His "Ten Economics Pieces Worth Reading: January 9, 2010" is a helpful scan through our current situation, financial reform, the commercial real estate bubble, big bank breakup proposals, the economics of the New Deal, China's stability, deficit reduction, and a few other things.

Personally, I didn't read anything last night, but did watch Bill Moyers Journal, which featured David Corn and Kevin Drum on financial reform (and why we'll not get any real reform). They laid out the basic reasons why Congress does Wall Street's bidding: money, money, and money. It's pretty hard to argue with their analysis when one considers how complex financial reform tends to be and how easy it is for financial firms to evade restrictions with a word change here and there— and a contribution here, there, and everywhere.

As a personal aside, I'm fascinated by how Kevin Drum has transformed into a Washington journalist in the seven or so years since I started reading his Left Coast "Calpundit" blog — and has even started wearing suits and ties. I'm not sure the sartorial changes are for the best, but it's great to see his work on magazine covers and network television (PBS is network television, right?).